His balance at the end of the winter is great. In the Junior World Cup, he dominated the 3,000-meter mass start races, and was second in the 15-meter race. He then brought silver from the 5000m race at the world championships in Hachinohe, Japan.
“I’m happy about that, but I was hoping to be even more successful, there was also a chance for gold. I had a fall in the race with a mass start, I’m sorry about that,” says Jílek.
His path among the youth speed skating elite was circuitous. Already at preschool age, he started riding inline skates, then moved on to ice. “Sometime four years ago in the Canadians, then I switched to short track and since last season I’ve been riding long track,” he describes. That was exactly his long-term plan.
“It’s just that there were no funds for a long course, so we wanted me to get the basics first and then I could get into it faster, which I succeeded in,” praises Jílek, who was led by his father and Pavel Zajpt.
In short track, i.e. speed skating on a short track, it is not a race, it is only a means of gaining experience with ice skating. And he is also much more accessible, he can train at a successful club in Venátky nad Jizerou, roughly half an hour from his home city of Prague.
But he hasn’t resented roller skating, he continues to collect medals on them over the summer and doesn’t intend to stop. “It’s my passion, I enjoy it. And it’s nice to alternate it with speed skating, at least I don’t get tired of it, both have something in common,” he compares.
Although each of his sports requires something different. “The technique is different. On ice, the blades have to cut into the ice while the wheels have to ride on the surface. But as I switch more often, it’s no longer a problem for me,” says Jílek.
His journey is not an anomaly, the most brilliant example of a successful amphibian is the Belgian Bart Swings. In the summer he rules on wheels, in the winter he has now become the world champion in the race with a mass start.
Photo: Roller Team Stars Praha
Skating amphibian Metoděj Jílek
It is in it that Jílek’s experience from inline skating or short track is most useful. For “classic” speed skaters, contact races are still new, they have only been held twice at the Winter Olympics. “I know how to move in the pack and how to react, this discipline is the closest to wheels. The track is wider, you can drive over it, I enjoy it,” Jílek nods.
He also got his speed skating coach, New Zealander Kallon Dobin, through roller skates. “Their team is based in Germany in Geisingen, it’s one of the biggest international teams on wheels, so they approached me. And I knew that a lot of people from them, mainly from Switzerland, also ride on ice,” Jílek recounts.
In the winter, he most often goes to Insell, Germany, trains on inline skates in Prague, and goes to Venice for short track. “I can’t go away for half a year, I go to grammar school and graduate next year. It’s true that I don’t have much time for anything else, I get home at eight in the evening,” he admits.
Even next winter, he will still fall into the junior category, but he already plans to visit some of the adult world cup races, ideally also the world championship in Hamar, Norway. And then direct your efforts towards the dream Olympics in Milan.
On it, he could also meet Martina Sáblíková, his inspiration. “If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t even have gotten into speed skating and didn’t know about it, she made it famous in the Czech Republic,” he recalls. So far they have only met briefly. “We saw each other at one training session, where we said hello, but there wasn’t much room to look away,” says Jílek.
Anyway, after one of the successes, he received a congratulations from the three-time Olympic champion under the photo on Instagram. “I was pleased with that, she tries hard to support others,” says the speed skating talent.
2024-02-24 08:42:18
#Congratulations #Sáblíková #pleased #Czech #talent #astounding
